Dragon Ball Z
Dragon Ball Z: As a young man, Goku meets his older brother Raditz, who tells him that they come from a race of extraterrestrials called Saiyans. The Saiyans had sent Goku to Earth as an infant to conquer the planet for them, but he suffered a severe head injury soon after his arrival and lost all memory of his mission. Goku refuses to help Raditz continue the mission, after which he begins to encounter other enemies from space, most notably the Saiyan prince Vegeta, who becomes his rival due to Vegeta's ambitious desire to surpass Goku in strength, though in the process, he too eventually becomes Goku's ally. He also encounters Frieza, the galactic overlord responsible for the destruction of the Saiyan race, whose actions cause Goku to transform into a legendary Super Saiyan. After an epic battle on the planet Namek, Goku defeats Frieza, avenging the lives of billions across the universe. Some years later, a group of androids from the former Red Ribbon Army appear, seeking revenge against Goku. During this time, an evil life form called Cell emerges and, after absorbing two of the androids to increase his power, holds his own martial arts tournament to decide the fate of the Earth, but is eventually defeated by Goku's first child Son Gohan Seven years later, Goku is drawn into another battle for the universe against a magical monster named Majin Buu. Joined by Vegeta and Gohan, Goku succeeds in destroying the evil half of Buu and the good half of Buu settles down with them. Ten years later, at another World Martial Arts Tournament, Goku meets the evil Buu's human reincarnation, Uub. At the end of the series, Goku takes Uub away on a journey to train him as the Earth's next defender. The series follows the adventures of the adult Goku who, along with his companions, defends the earth against an assortment of villains ranging from intergalactic space fighters and conquerers, unnaturally powerful androids and near indestructible magical creatures. While the original Dragon Ball anime followed Goku through childhood into adulthood, Dragon Ball Z is a continuation of his adulthood life, but at the same time parallels the maturation of his son, Gohan, as well as characters from Dragon Ball ''and more. The separation between the series is also significant as the latter series takes on a more dramatic and serious tone. The anime also features characters, situations and back-stories not present in the original manga. After ''Dragon Ball Z, the story of Goku and friends continues in the anime-only series Dragon Ball GT. This series is not based on a manga by Akira Toriyama. Toriyama's humor/parody manga Neko Majin Z features several concepts introduced in Dragon Ball Z (several Dragon Ball Z characters even make various appearances), but that manga is designed as a parody and not a true continuation of the series. In April 2009, a new 'refresh' of Dragon Ball Z began airing on Japanese television. This recut is titled Dragon Ball Z Kai. Sagas Vegeta Saga This was the beginning of Dragon Ball Z. We first saw someone leaping from tree to tree in the forest. It was Son Goku, getting wood (actually a whole tree) for his wife, Chi-Chi, to cook. Chi-Chi asked Goku where was Gohan. Goku did not know so he went searching for him. Meanwhile, a circular spaceship crashed onto Earth. A curious farmer looked for the space pod. As the pod opened up, a large stranger, with an appearance similar to Goku but had more hair and was stronger, emerged. The scared farmer took his gun and shot him, but the alien reflected the bullet back at the farmer, killing him. The alien flew and shouted out, "KAKAROTT!!!" A little child with a strange hat that held the 4-star dragon ball was lost in the forest. Meet Son Gohan, Goku's son. After meeting a tiger/puma, who later began his friend, he finally fell down a river on a log, shouting "DAD." Goku finally heard his screams and saved him. Goku and Gohan flew to Kame-House to meet Kuririn, Kamesennin, Bulma, and the Turtle. Suddenly, the alien arrived. He told Goku he was his brother and told him his Saiya-jin origin. (Note: A previous head injury caused Goku to lost his Saiya-jin memory.) The alien, Raditz, told him to bring 100 dead bodies by the next day or Gohan would be lost to him. Piccolo arrived suddenly, told him of his encounter with Raditz, and agreed to team up with him. Because Raditz was very strong, they would have to fight together to win. Goku and Piccolo finally found Raditz, and the battle had begin. During the battle, Piccolo lost a limb, and Goku was seriously injured. An enraged Gohan broke out of Raditz's spacepod, which he was trapped in, and attacked Raditz. During Raditz's weaken state, Goku was able to held him until Piccolo executed his secret attack, "MAKANKOSAPPO." Both Raditz and Goku was killed by the sudden attack. Before Raditz died, he told Piccolo that two stronger Saiya-jins will arrive in one year. Piccolo took Gohan to train with him because he knew that Gohan had great power. Goku was now in heaven. He was allowed to travel through Serpent Road to Kaiou's planet to train, but he would go to HELL if he fell off. (Note: It was censored to HFIL, Home For Infinite Losers, in the American version.) After running continuously, he got tired but was able to get a ride from a guy that was cleaning Snake Way. When the driver/cleaner was sleeping, Goku fell from the car to HELL. In order to reenter Snake Way, Goku raced two, cool, dumb ogres. When he successfully left HELL, he had to run through Snake Way all over again but was able to regain his strength with an King Yamma's apple. After escaping from Princess Snake, he finally reached Kaiou's planet. Piccolo left Gohan in a desert alone for six months for survival training. Piccolo later returned and started training him. On Kaiou's planet, Goku learned to live under a gravity ten times stronger than Earth's and also learned the Kaioken and Genki-Dama's techniques. (Note: The Genki Dama drew ki energy from everybody on Earth and even the universe. It had been effective many times for Goku during combats.) Kuririn, Tenshinhan, Yamcha, and Chaozu trained with Kami-sama throughout the year. The Saiya-jins finally arrived, destroyed a city, and found Gohan and Piccolo. They wanted to kill Raditz's murderers and to get the dragon balls to wish for immortality. Yamchu got killed when one of Nappa's Saiba-men self-destructed. Chaozu and Tien sacrificed their lives to kill Nappa but failed. Piccolo died defending Gohan, a very emotional scene. During the moment, Goku was wished back by the dragon balls and ran rapidly through Snake Way back to Earth. Luckily, Goku finally arrived to save Gohan and Kuririn by using Kaioken. Vegeta became angry of Nappa's attempts to kill Goku and shouted "SHI NE," destroying him. The battle between Goku and Vegeta began. Vegeta gained an advantage by creating an artificial moon and transformed into Oozaru form but lost his ability when Yajirobe cowardly cut off his tail with a sword. (Note: The tail allows a Saiya-jin to transform into a giant monkey called Oozaru when a full moon appears. The transformation will be reversed if either the moon disappears or the tail is cut.) Goku was seriously injured while fighting Vegeta and handed his Genki Dama to Kuririn, who then weakened Vegeta with it. Finally, Gohan turned into Oozaru and started beating up Vegeta. With his last amount of strength, Vegeta escaped back in his spacepod. Bulma and the others arrived to pick up Goku, Kuririn, Gohan, and the bodies of their dead companions. Because of Piccolo's death, Kami also died unfortunately. Without Kami, the dragon balls was not able to exist. Kuririn stated that he heard Vegeta saying that Piccolo came from the planet Namek. By using Kami's spaceship, Bulma, Kuririn, and Gohan traveled to Namek, hoping that there would be more powerful dragon balls to revive their friends. Freeza Saga The battle with Vegeta and Nappa was finally over, but Kuririn, Bulma, and Gohan must now go to Planet Namek, Piccolo's and Kami's home planet, to obtain another set of dragon balls to wish their allies back. Goku was injured from the battle and was uncapable to go, but Kuririn, Bulma, and Gohan were able to obtain the spaceship Kami used to arrive to Earth. The journey was two months long and was filled with dangers, including the Space Ark Children, Raachi and Zaakro (with their abilities to create illusions), and finally Freeza! Freeza was the most powerful being in the universe, who had to undergo throught four forms to achieve his real power. After listening to the message from the dying Radditz in the Vegeta Saga, he learned about the dragon balls and decided to pursue them himself to gain immortality. Aftering being healed by a senzu bean, Goku set off for Namek in a specially designed spaceship, training hard in 100 times gravity. Meanwhile, Piccolo, Yamcha, Tien, and Chaozu served as Kaiou's pupils. Vegeta was also healed and stronger than ever, heading for Namek for the dragon balls and the hatred for Goku in his black heart. Vegeta was able to kill Dodoria, Kiwi, and Zarbon, becoming stronger after every battle. Freeza killed all the Namekians except Nail, Dende, and Saichoro while Vegeta captured all the seven dragon balls (with six from Freeza and one from Kuririn, Bulma, and Bulma). As a desperate measure, Freeza summoned Team Ginew, a team of five strong fighters. Even with their ki increased by Saichoro and with Vegeta assisting them, Kuririn and Gohan were losing to the Ginew Team, allowing them to take the dragon balls to Freeza. Freeza was unable to activate the dragon balls and flew to Saichoro to seek out the answer. Luckily, Goku arrived to defeat Recoom, Recoom, and Jess, allowing Vegeta to kill them, including Guldo. Vegeta wondered if Goku was the legendary Super Saiya-jin. Ginew knew he could not surpass Goku's power so he switched bodies with Goku. The battle concluded with Goku returning to his own body and Ginew trapped in a frog's body. Gohan, Kuririn, and Dende were able to obtain the dragon balls from Freeza to revive Piccolo and to bring him to Namek. (Note: Unlike Shen-long, Porunga could grant the user three wishes.) Freeza killed Saichoro and injured Nail, interrupting Porunga from granting the third wish (which was to grant Vegeta immortality). An angered Freeza hurted Kuririn and Gohan, but Dende had the ability to heal them. Freeza transformed into his second form, but Piccolo merged with Nail and started beating Freeza. Freeza transformed to his third form while Goku was recovering in Freeza's ship from the battle with Ginew. After undergoing his transformation to his fourth and final form, Freeza killed Vegeta for stating about the Super Saiya-jin to Goku. (Note: Freeza feared the Super Saiya-jin legend.) Goku executed a Genki Dama desperately at Freeza, but an injured Freeza killed Kuririn out of rage. This triggered the anger Goku to transform to a Super Saiya-jin. An intense battle has developed, risking the destruction of Namek. Super Saiya-jin Goku was defeating Freeza, becoming stronger every minute. With his last strength, Freeza triggered the planet to blow up in five minutes and threw Kienzan-like fireballs at him but accidentally got cut in the process. Goku gave Freeza some of his energy to save his live and to fight more but had to kill him rapidly and escape. Goku tried to start Freeza's spaceship but failed as the planet exploded. Bulma, Piccolo, Gohan, Vegeta, and the Namekians traveled back to earth with the Namek dragon balls. (Note: The Namekians were revived with the Earth dragon balls. Porunga revived Kuririn but was unable to revive Goku. It seemed that Goku survived the explosion and was training on another planet, learning the Shunkanidou in the process. Vegeta decided to train in space, and everything was safe on Earth for now. One year later Freeza is put back together in a robotic form by his father, King Cold. They arrive on Earth with an army, all hope is lost by the Z warriors, even Vegeta thinks so when he was revived by the DragonBalls. Suddenly, a teenager comes out of nowhere, beats the crap out of Freeza. Not only that, he is a Saiyan! Turning Super Saiyan, he kills Freeza and King Cold with his sword easily. All he says is that he is waiting for Son Goku, then Son Goku appears out of nowhere. Son Goku tells of his troubles and also demonstrates his new teleportation technique. The teenager says that his name is Trunks. He is also the son of Bulma and Vegeta! He is from the future and comes back in time to warn the Z warriors of androids that will terrorize the world in three years. Trunks also says that Son Goku will die from a heart disease. Trunks though has brought medicine for him. Trunks says that he will come back in three years to fight the androids. Now the Z warriors must train for the androids arriving in three years. Cell saga Three years passed since Trunks' arrival. A lot has changed since then, Trunks from the future is now called Miari Trunks since Chibi Trunks is born, and Vegeta joins the Z warriors, but having the same attitude. Miari Trunks arrives from the future to find that there is another android, Android #16. The androids in Miari Trunks' timeline are #17 and #18. Also the creator, Dr. Gero, turns himself into Android #20. He is easily defeated by Vegeta who learns how to turn Super Saiyan during his training. Right before he dies, he issues the final command for Android #22 (Cell). Cell is made of single cells from the strongest warriors in the universe. Cell breaks out of his test tube and seeks to absorb #17 and #18. When Cell finally absorbs the androids, he turns into Perfect Cell. No one can offer a challenge so he starts thinking of all the fights as games (Thus somes the title, Cell Game). Cell later announces that he will hold a tournament to the warriors that think they can defeat him. The tournament begins. First, a fighter from Earth, who is really a coward that takes all the credit and is really weak, Mr. Satan. He gets defeated easily by on slap from Cell. Then, Son Goku fights with Cell, the battle ends with the winner Son Goku. But Cell gets so mad that he self-destructs and blow up the whole Solar System. Goku quickly teleports him and himself to a safe distance, like Kaiosama's Planet. He blows up killing both Goku and Kaiosama. Everyone was sad, but the battle wasn't over yet, Cell somehow regenerated from just one cell from his body, and decides to take Gohan as his next challenger. He tries to piss off Gohan so that he will be more challenging. The plan works when he creates seven Baby Cells who kills his friends. And he kills Miari Trunks with a surprise attack. Gohan gets pushed off the edge and powers up and reaches SSJ2, then Cell realizes that he over did it. Gohan defeats the Baby Cells with just one kick to each of them. Son Gohan starts to attack Cell. As the battle goes on, Gohan's right arm gets crippled. He creates a Kamehameha, Cell than creates his own Kamehameha, a stalement is drawn only with the encouragement of his dead father. Son Gohan over powers Cell and kills him with only one arm! Everyone is wished back to life except Son Goku because he was already wished back to life once. But Goku was proud of his son and watched over him in the heavens, while King Kaiosama kept on yelling at Goku for bringing Cell to his planet. Miari Trunks later returns to his own time. Buu Saga Seven years pass since the Cell Game. Krillin marries #18 (who was wished to human by the DragonBalls) and has a daughter named Marron. Chi-Chi has a seconded son named Son Goten, Son Goten and Trunks (Chibi) turned SSJ at an early age. Son Gohan has a girl friend named Videl, the daughter of Satan ( Satan takes all the credit for killing Cell, this got him really famous ), Son Gohan is also a superhero named the Great SaiyanMan. During The Tenkaichu-Boudoukai, Son Goku is granted a single day of life to meet with Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Chi-Chi, and all the Z warriors, including Vegeta. Two of Buu's slaves steal Son Gohan's energy, then a man named Kaiosen revives Son Gohan, he than tells of a evil demon named Buu trying to destroy the Earth. If Buu's slaves gather enough energy, he will be revived. Vegeta learning that he can become stronger by turning into Buu's slave, Vegeta turns evil again, this time he is Majin Vegeta and can turn to SSJ2. This gives Buu enough energy to be revived. Goku then learns to turn to SSJ2 and fights him and convinces him that good always triumphs over evil. Vegeta finally realizes and self-destructs in hope to kill Buu. Son Goku than heads to battle against Buu. Son Goku than turns SSJ2, and SSJ3! But he still can't defeat Buu. Later, Son Gohan heads to the Kaiosen's planet for training. Then before Son Goku's time is up on Earth he teaches Son Goten and Trunks the fusion technique, then they get trained by Piccolo so they can be strong enough to beat Buu. Soon after Son Goten and Trunks fuse to become Gotenks, later Gotenks turns SSJ1, and then, SSJ3! But Buu has made a twin of himself, but he is a lot more evil than Buu, he even absorbed Buu and thus turning him into Super Buu. Gotenks is defeating Super Buu, but Gotenks is an inexperienced and careless fighter. Buu absorbs Gotenks and becomes a lot stronger, then absorbs Piccolo. Dia Kaoiusin then sacrifices his life so Son Goku can live. Goku then gets a pair of Potara Earrings for fusion, this way the fused person won't diffuse in 30 min. Son Goku now alive teleports to the battle. Then King Yama grants Vegeta life to fight Buu. When Son Goku arrives to the scene he tells Son Gohan to fuse with him, Son Goku than throws a fusion earring at Son Gohan. Son Gohan drops the earring and Buu absorbs Son Gohan, thus turning himself into Ultimate Buu. Then Vegeta comes to the scene. Vegeta then fuses with Son Goku to become, Vegetto. Vegetto defeats Buu but purposely gets absorbed to rescue their friends. This somehow wears off the permanent fusion. They rescue Son Goten, Son Gohan, Trunks, Piccolo, and Fat Buu through Ultimate Buu's pores. All of the energy that Buu has taken restores him back to his normal form, Majin Buu. Then he destroys the Earth. Kaoiu-sin teleports to help Son Goku teleport Vegeta, Satan, his dog, and Dende to Kaoiu-sin's planet. Vegeta gets angry because he rescued them instead of his son and the rest of the Z fighters. Son Goku was speechless. But there wasn't any time for that, Majin Buu also teleports to the planet Goku's on, and start to fight. Then Son Goku starts to get beaten up badly. Vegeta jumps into battle so Son Goku can create a Genki-Dami. The Namek DragonBalls are gathered to wish back the Earth and to wish back everyone killed by Buu. The third wish is stored for later use. Son Goku's Genki-Dami (Energy given by the Nameks, the people in the Heavens, and everyone on Earth) is ready to throw, Son Goku throws it, and Buu pushes it back. Vegeta tells Dende to wish back all of Son Goku's strength back. Now with all his strength restored Son Goku, he throws back the Genki- Dami at Buu. Buu can't counter it any longer, so he is killed. Ten years after the battle against Majin Buu, Fat Buu is revived into a evil cleansed form called Uboo. Son Goku decides to train him since he has great potential. Son Gohan and Vidal get married and have a daughter named Pan. This concludes DragonBall Z. _______________________________________________________________________ Dragon Ball Z was marketed to appeal to a wide range of viewers from all ages, and contains crude humor and occasional excesses of violence which are commonly seen as inappropriate for younger audiences by American standards. When it was marketed in the US, the distribution company FUNimation alongside with Saban decided to initially focus exclusively on the young children's market, because the anime market was still small compared to the much larger children's cartoon market. This censorship often had unintentionally humorous results, such as changing all references to death so the dead characters were merely going to "another dimension", and digitally altering two ogres' shirts to read "HFIL" instead of "HELL". Starting with the Captain Ginyu Saga on Cartoon Network, censorship was reduced due to fewer restrictions on cable programming. FUNimation did the dubbing on their own this time around with their own voice actors. In 2004, FUNimation began to redub the first two sagas of Dragon Ball Z, to remove the problems that were caused from their previous partnership with Saban. They also redubbed the first three movies. However, the show still retained some level of censorship, not out of FCC laws, but out of choice by Funimation, so as to cater to the possible sensitivity of western audiences. For example, Mr. Satan was renamed Hercule to avoid any religious slurs; his daughter, Videl, was a play on the word Devil, but FUNimation felt that the connection was obscure enough to not worry about. ''Filler and differences from the manga ''Main article: Filler Filler is used to pad out the series for many reasons; in the case of Dragon Ball Z, more often than not, it was because the anime was running alongside the manga, and there was no way for the anime to run ahead of the manga (since Toriyama was still writing it, at the same time). The company behind the anime, Toei Animation, would occasionally make up their own side stories to either further explain things, or simply to extend the series. Filler doesn't come only in the form of side stories, though; sometimes it's as simple as adding some extra attacks into a fight. One of the more infamous examples of filler is the Frieza Saga. After Frieza had set the Planet Namek to blow up in five minutes, the final fight with Frieza still lasted well over five episodes, much less five minutes. As the anime series was forced to expand 12 pages of manga text into 25 minutes of animation footage, these changes were introduced to kill time or to allow the (anime) writers to explore some other aspect of the series' universe. The Anoyo-ichi Budōkai (Afterlife Tournament) between the Cell Games Saga and the Majin Buu Saga, and the Garlic Junior Saga (Garlic Jr.'s return from the Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone movie) between the Frieza Saga and Trunks Saga are both good examples of this. They have also been known to contradict the manga and often create new plot holes. Besides having filler scenes and episodes, there are many changes from the original manga. Among them are the following: *When Tien Shinhan loses his arm when fighting Nappa, his arm becomes a stump with only a small amount of blood seen. In the manga the scene is much more gory. *In the manga Frieza kills Cargo, but in the anime Dodoria kills him. (In the Ocean Dub Gohan and Krillin say that Cargo escapes) *In the original manga Appule kills all the Namekians in a village and tells Frieza, who is annoyed that he didn't ask them where Vegeta was. However, Frieza just tells him to call the Ginyu Force. In the anime the soldier is changed to another unnamed orange soldier to as "Orlen" in the closed captioning for the Ocean Dub VHS tapes - it is unclear if this is canonical however, who is killed by Frieza when he tells of his mistake. *In the manga, after Frieza survives Goku's Spirit Bomb, he immediately strikes down Piccolo with his Death Beam technique, but in the anime, he fires his beam at Goku, only for Piccolo to jump in the way and get struck down by the beam anyway. *In the manga, Frieza's full power was still never a match for Goku's Super Saiyan form, but in the anime, Frieza appears to have the upper hand for a short time before he begins to tire. *In the anime, when Vegeta is brought back to life on Planet Namek, he manages to witness some of the battle between Goku and Frieza, as well as Goku's Super Saiyan form, before being teleported to Earth by the Namekian Dragon Balls. In the manga, he is teleported to Earth almost immediately after being revived and does not get a chance to see Goku as a Super Saiyan for the first time until Goku returns to Earth himself later on. *When Dr. Gero first appears in the series (as Android 20), he grabs a man by the neck and tears him through the roof of a car. In the original manga, he crushes the man's neck afterwards, tearing his head off. *Though the flashback of Future Trunks and Future Gohan fighting Androids 17 and 18 is present in both the anime and the manga, there are notable discrepancies between the flashback and the scene depicted in the TV special, The History of Trunks. In the special, Gohan had lost his arm, Trunks had not yet achieved his Super Saiyan form, and there was no rain in the scene in question. *When Vegito fights Super Buu (with Gohan absorbed) in the manga, Vegito immediately fights in his Super Saiyan form. In the anime, Vegito fought (rather successfully) in his base form for a while before becoming a Super Saiyan. *When Goku begins his battle against Kid Buu in the manga, he transforms immediately into his Super Saiyan 3 form. In the anime, however, Goku starts the battle as a Super Saiyan 2, and manages to hold his own against Kid Buu for a while before ascending to Super Saiyan 3. *The anime has two significant filler portions: the Garlic Jr. Saga and the Other World Tournament segment of the Great Saiyaman Saga. *In the manga, many of the characters have a different number of fingers on their hands; such as Piccolo (3 fingers and a thumb), Dodoria (3 thumb-like fingers), and Imperfect form Cell (two long fingers and a long thumb). In the anime, everybody has human-like hands with 4 fingers and a thumb. Reception and impact The impact of Dragon Ball Z is enormous. For more than 20 years, the series has stood the test of time and has reached out to many children and adults alike across the globe. This is mainly due to the series' very clear representations of good overpowering evil, love overpowering hate, the importance of family and friends, and an unyielding passion toward achieving goals. The series also featured heavy sci-fi overtones, and a greater emphasis on fighting - making it extremely popular among adolescent boys who had grown up alongside the original series. Dragon Ball Z has also played a large part in contributing to the popularity of anime in westen culture. Though the first two seasons of the series were played on various networks in the U.S. in 1996, it would not take off for two more years until August 31, 1998, when Cartoon Network featured the show in its action-oriented Toonami lineup. Toonami heralded the show as "The Greatest Action Cartoon Ever Made," and it greatly boosted the popularity of Toonami, but unknowingly did so much more. Dragon Ball Z's newfound popularity helped to bring about a greater interest in Japanese cartoons in the eyes of western youth, which in turn fueled the western anime industry to new heights. Because of its success on Toonami, Dragon Ball Z was the first anime that made its way to the Wall Street Journal, who declared it, "A Huge Cartoon Hit." Many items such as apparel, backpacks, lunch boxes, writing utensils, candies, drinks, foods and more feature Dragon Ball Z, in both Japan and North America. Action figures, collectible figurines, plush toys, bobble heads, and character model kits were also made. The fast food chain Burger King featured Dragon Ball Z toys twice in the early 2000's. Despite the TV series officially ending in Japan in 1996, and in 2003 in North America, Dragon Ball Z video games are created nearly every year for almost every console on the market, helping to introduce the Dragon Ball Z series to younger generations that never got a chance to see it air on television. These games usually do very well in the market. Popular sites such as YouTube have attracted large Dragon Ball Z fan communities over the course of the last few years, and Dragon Ball related videos receive many views. All of these examples showcase the incredible popularity of Dragon Ball Z in many countries of the world. Sagas Toei sagas #Saiyan (Episodes 1~35); 1989–1990 #Freeza (Episodes 36~107); 1990–1991 #Cell (Episodes 108~194); 1991–1993 #Buu (Episodes 195~291); 1993–1996 English dub sagas Saiyan: *The Vegeta Saga (Episodes 1~35; originally The Saiyan Conflict) Frieza: *The Namek Saga (Episodes 36~67) *The Captain Ginyu Saga (Episodes 68~74) *The Frieza Saga (Episodes 75~107) Cell: *The Garlic Jr. Saga (Episodes 108~117) *The Trunks Saga (Episodes 118~125) *The Androids Saga (Episodes 126~139) *The Imperfect Cell Saga (Episodes 140~152) *The Perfect Cell Saga (Episodes 153~165) *The Cell Games Saga (Episodes 166~194) Buu: *The Great Saiyaman Saga (Episodes 195~209) *The World Tournament Saga (Episodes 210~219) *The Babidi Saga (Episodes 220~231) *The Majin Buu Saga (Episodes 232~253) *The Fusion Saga (Episodes 254~275) *The Kid Buu Saga (Episodes 276~291) Movies, TV specials, OVA Movies Toei titles #Return my Gohan!! (1989) #Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest (1990) #Super Deciding Battle for the Entire Planet Earth (1990) #Super Saiyan Son Goku (1991) #The Incredible Mightiest vs. Mightiest (1991) #Clash!! 10,000,000,000 Powerful Warriors (1992) #Extreme Battle!! The Three Great Super Saiyans (:1992) #Burn Up!! A Close, Intense, Super-Fierce Battle (1993) #The Galaxy at the Brink!! The Super Incredible Guy (1993) #The Dangerous Duo! Super-Warriors Can't Rest (1994) #Super-Warrior Defeat!! I'm the One who'll Win (1994) #Fusion Reborn!! Goku and Vegeta (1994) #Dragon Fist Explosion! If Goku Can't Do It, Who Will? (1995) #Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! (2008) English dub titles #Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone (1997) (Remastered/Re-released on May 27, 2008) #Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest (1998) (Remastered/Re-released on May 27, 2008) #Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might (1998) (Remastered/Re-released on September 16, 2008) #Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug (2001) (Remastered/Re-released on September 16, 2008) #Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge (2001) (Remastered/Re-released on November 11, 2008) #Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler (2002) (Remastered/Re-released on November 11, 2008) #Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13! (2003) (Remastered/Re-released on February 18, 2009) #Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan (2003) (Remastered/Re-released on March 31, 2009) #Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound (2004) (Remastered/Re-released on February 18, 2009) #Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming (2005) (Remastered/Re-released on March 31, 2009) #Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly (2005) (Remastered/Re-released on March 31, 2009) #Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn (2006) (Remastered/Re-released on May 19, 2009) #Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon (2006) (Remastered/Re-released on May 19, 2009) TV specials Toei titles #A Lonesome, Final Battle: The Father of Z-Warrior Kakarrot, who Challenged Frieza (1990) #Movie Overview Special (1992) #Resistance to Despair!! The Remaining Super-Warriors, Gohan and Trunks (1993) #Looking Back at it All: The Dragon Ball Z Year-End Show! (1993) English dub titles #Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku (2000) (Remastered/Re-released in February 19, 2008) #Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks (2000) (Remastered/Re-released in February 19, 2008) OVA *The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans (1993) Releases Japanese releases Originally, only the Dragon Ball Z movies, and the Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans OVA were available for home viewing in Japan. The movies were released on both VHS and Laserdisc format. The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans OVA was released both on VHS and on the PlayDia, as an interactive FMV. 'Dragon Box releases' Main article: Dragon Box In 2003, all of the Dragon Ball Z TV series was finally released under the "Dragon Box" label for home viewing in Japan, on two large DVD boxed sets, following the release of a similar set for Dragon Ball. Each Dragon Ball Z Dragon Box had a large amount of DVD extras, as well as an action figure and a book. The video and audio transfers of the show used on these DVDs came off of the Fuji TV master tapes of the show, as this allowed Toei to put out a far superior and completely accurate version of the show on DVD, which was helpful since the entire plot of a season could be summed up in about ten minutes. This allowed all episodes to have their original openings, endings, eyecatches, next episode previews, etc., compared to what was available in the US. In late 2005 the Dragon Box Z DVDs were re-released in single volumes with six episodes per disc. While the packaging and DVD menus are different from the 2003 release, and so far no plans have been announced for the two TV specials and the Playdia footage released with the 2003 versions, the Audio and Visual quality is the exact same as those discs found in the 2003 Dragon Box release. In April 14, 2006, a "Dragon Box: The Movies" DVD box was released. This release contained all 17 Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z theatrical features, containing 8 DVDs in total, along with a book, and two scouters in the form of walkie-talkies. The video and audio are remastered; however, the video is cropped to 16:9 (widescreen) and contains less picture than the full-screen versions. This is a common occurrence for films from Toei based on long-running and popular TV series (See Saint Seiya, Fist of the North Star, and One Piece). All Dragon Box releases contain Japanese language audio only (with exceptions to foreign-language bonus clips), and no subtitles. 'Pioneer DVDs' During the late 90's/early 00's, the first 53 (Saban/FUNimation version numbers, originally uncut as 67) TV episodes were released on to DVD by Pioneer Entertainment (now Geneon Entertainment USA). These contained only the edited, US-TV broadcast versions (dubbed by the Ocean Group), and totalled 17 volumes, comprising the 'Saiyan Saga' and the 'Namek Saga'. Along with these episodes, Pioneer also produced bilingual, uncut DVDs of the first three Dragon Ball Z theatrical features. These DVDs retained the original Ocean cast for the English track, as well as being one of the first uncut and bilingual releases in the U.S. The English versions of these films were also subject to a different treatment than the series; rather than replacing the original music, the original OP and ED themes, as well as background music, were retained. The only noticeable differences besides languages are the inclusion of a few different sound effects which are not present on the original Japanese version. These films were released as a three-disc boxset by Pioneer. As of August the 31st, 2004, Pioneer's license for video distribution of the first 53 episodes ended, allowing FUNimation to re-release them. At the moment, the rights for these episodes and for the first three Dragon Ball Z movies belong to FUNimation. 'FUNimation DVDs' As of 2000, FUNimation had released uncut versions of their Texas-based English dub on to DVD, with Japanese language track, and English-translation subtitles. This release doesn't include the first two sagas, as the rights for the distribution of that episodes were still held by Pioneer Entertainment. These DVDs begin with the Captain Ginyu saga, and contain every episode covering (Japanese numbers) 68 till 291. Boxsets were release for the Garlic Jr., Androids, Imperfect Cell, Perfect Cell, World Tournament, Majin Buu, Fusion, and Kid Buu U.S. sagas. However, in order to maximize profits, the DVDs were released out of continuity (certain amounts of one section of the series were released, and then FUNimation would go back and release others). With no noticeable numbering visible, this caused frustration to those trying to follow the series from start to finish. FUNimation also released Dragon Ball Z movies 4-13, finishing the release of the movies with 'Wrath of the Dragon', the 13th movie. These are all bilingual and subtitled, but do not follow the trend set by Ocean's first three movies. Music has been changed and altered, including the insertion of songs from rock bands such as Deftones, Disturbed, Breaking Point, and American Pearl. The movies utilize FUNimation's TV series Texas cast, though they also include the original Japanese version with subtitling by Steve Simmons. FUNimation Ultimate Uncut DVDs Main article: Ultimate Uncut Special Edition After acquiring the video rights to the first 53 (67 uncut) episodes from Pioneer in 2004, FUNimation announced that they would release these episodes uncut, with a new 5.1 English language track and uncut footage. The Ultimate Uncut Special Edition line was born. The release would be 22 volumes, bilingual, and with extras. The Saiyan Saga was renamed the 'Vegeta' Saga (Parts I and II, covering 12 DVDs), probably to avoid confusion with the Pioneer volumes. However, after DVD volume 9, FUNimation canceled these box sets and planned to re-re-release them in the DVD season boxsets. This upset fans who had purchased the expensive Ultimate Uncut DVDs, as the Vegeta Saga Part II will never be completed, and the Ultimate Uncut Namek Saga DVDs will not be created. FUNimation had also acquired the rights for the first three movies from Pioneer in 2004, and re-released them. Even though the three had same cover style, only the first movie was released under the Ultimate Uncut line. All of these movies had a 5.1 English track, new subtitles, different DVD extras and come in a boxset titled 'First Strike'. However, they do not retain the original Ocean dub, and contain a new English dub produced by FUNimation's Texas cast. This version contains different music than the original dub and than the Japanese version. 'FUNimation Remastered Box Sets' Main article: Funimation Remastered Box Sets In November 2005, FUNimation announced they would release a remastered form of Dragon Ball Z on DVD beginning in 2007. All DBZ episodes were to be digitally remastered and released in boxset form. The first season set (the entire Vegeta Saga) was re-released on February 6, 2007. The first 39 episodes of this season are spread across 6 discs, and cost $30-$50 USD (the original intention was for 5 discs, but there was a risk of quality reduction). FUNimation released a trailer for the new set on the Dragon Ball Z official website. FUNimation released the second season set, containing both the Namek and Captain Ginyu sagas, on May 22, 2007. Beginning with this release, several of the in-house voice actors re-dubbed their characters' lines to keep consistency with the remainder of the dub. The third season set, containing the Frieza Saga, was released on September 18, 2007. The fourth season, containing both the Garlic Jr., Trunks and Android sagas, was released on February 11, 2008. Season five, containing both the Imperfect and Perfect Cell sagas, was released May 27, 2008. Season six, containing the Cell Games Saga, was released September 16, 2008. Season seven, containing both the Great Saiyaman and World Tournament sagas, was released November 11, 2008. Season eight, containing both the Babidi and Majin Buu sagas, was released February 10, 2009. Season nine, containing both the Fusion and Kid Buu sagas, was released May 19, 2009. The series has been re-transferred at 1080p resolution with digital restoration technology removing all grain and scratches from FUNimation's original prints of the series. It is important to note however, that like many late 80's-early 90's Toei productions (for example, Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon, Marmalade Boy, Ghost Sweeper Mikami and Slam Dunk), the series was produced on 16 millimeter film which tends to be fairly grainy and soft. The new restoration was supervised by colorist Steve Franko. The series is presented in widescreen format (1.78:1, cropped from the original full frame) for the first time. Comparison images from the new set show that while there is missing footage on the top and bottom, there is at least additional footage on the right and left that has not appeared in any prior release, having been taken straight from the original Japanese film master recording. This format change was highly controversial among fans, as this is not how the T.V. episodes were intended to be seen and this substantially alters them. Many fans launched a letter-writing campaign against the release. In response to the negative fan outcry regarding the release's apparent cropping of the source video, a FUNimation representative has released a document from the team remastering the video, which explains the logistics of the new release. This document details how certain areas of the original film are damaged, and admits that though the video is cropped, this release will eliminate the grain that would be present on prior 4:3 releases. It has also been theorized that it is ultimately more inexpensive to transfer the series in 16:9 and thereby remove the damaged portions of the frame than to repair 291 episodes' worth of damaged film. The boxset contains a revised English track in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (it contains the original Japanese score by Shunsuke Kikuchi, although it is unknown just how the English dialogue is revised). For the first time ever, there is a choice between having the Japanese dialogue with Toei's original Japanese music, or English dialogue with either FUNimation's dub music or Toei's original Japanese music. Special features include a featurette on the remastering of the original Japanese print and a 24-page booklet with episode summaries, character descriptions and a DBZ timeline. FUNimation Dragon Box Sets Main article: Funimation Dragon Box Sets FUNimation Dragon Box sets were confirmed for release by FUNimation Entertainment on July 19, 2009. The Dragon Box will be produced from the original Dragon Box masters after a frame by frame restoration and will span the entire 291 episode television series and all 13 of its movies. This definitive DVD box release begins with Dragon Box One which includes the first 42 episodes, uncut, on 6 discs. The Dragon Box releases will feature an aspect ratio of 4:3, the original Japanese audio (with options for an English track or English subtitles), the original episode previews, complete opening and closing credits and a collector’s booklet. Dragon Box One was released on November 10th, 2009 with an SRP of $79.98, while Dragon Box Two was released on February 16th, 2010, Dragon Box Three was released on May 4th, 2010, and Dragon Box Four was released on September 21, 2010. Main cast listhttp://dragonball.wikia.com/index.php?title=Dragon_Ball_Z&action=edit&section=24Edit Category:Dragon Ball Category:Dragon Ball Z Category:Dragon Ball GT